Super Mario – Mario Gomez turned home Bayern's second four minutes after the break -- despite appearing to be in an offside position. The Germany international converted from two yards after Muller had headed towards goal.

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Photos:Barca blitzed by Bayern

Messi missing – Leo Messi, still clearly struggling with the hamstring injury he sustained during the quarterfinal tie with Paris Saint-Germain, failed to inspire the Catalan giant as Bayern dominated.

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Photos:Barca blitzed by Bayern

Rampant Robben – Robben added Bayern's third with 17 minutes remaining with a neat finish, despite teammate Muller clearly fouling Alba in the build up to the goal. Muller sent Alba sprawling as Robben went through on goal, but the effort was allowed to stand.

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Photos:Barca blitzed by Bayern

Game over – Bayern star Muller slid in to convert David Alaba's cross and round off an astonishing 4-0 win for the home side.

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Photos:Barca blitzed by Bayern

Red hot – Bayern's Allianz Arena hosted last year's Champions League final where the German side suffered a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat to Chelsea.

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Story highlights

Bayern Munich crushed Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of its Champions League semifinal

Thomas Muller scored twice with Mario Gomez and Arjen Robben also on target

Bayern boss warns against complacency ahead of second leg

Barcelona's Gerard Pique believes "almost impossible" for his side to progress

Redemption is within grasp -- and for Bayern Munich the opportunity to exorcise the demons of yesteryear is in sight.

Tuesday's crushing victory over a Barcelona side which has dominated Europe's top competition for much of the past few years was yet another sign of the growing power of this Bavarian giant.

Last year's defeat by Chelsea at its home stadium still hurts, as does the memory of losing out to Inter Milan two years ago, but that pain and anguish has driven Bayern to the brink of history.

Not since 2001 has Bayern won Europe's elite competition, but surely this is the greatest chance they will ever have to end that drought after brushing aside a Barcelona team which has won this competition three times in the past seven years.

The German league title has already been wrapped up, while the domestic cup looks set to follow given the team's astonishing run of form.

That form was underlined with a display full of pace, power and vigor which blew Barcelona away with ease.

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The Catalan side, playing in its sixth successive semifinal, appeared rattled by Bayern's approach and was fortunate not concede a penalty when Gerard Pique clearly handled Philipp Lahm's strike inside the penalty area.

But any sense of injustice soon disappeared as Bayern took a deserved lead with 25 minutes on the clock.

Robben was the architect, picking out Dante at the far post with looping cross to head the ball towards goal and allow Muller to nod the ball home.

Not since October 2008 had Barcelona won a Champions League match away from home when trailing at halftime and they never liked look repeating the feat here.

Barcelona's talisman Leo Messi, clearly struggling with injury, rarely looked like troubling the Bayern defenders, while Barcelona struggled to deal with the German side's superior ability at set pieces.

And it was no surprise that within four minutes of the restart Bayern had extended its lead to assume complete control of the tie.

Once again it was the home side's aerial prowess which caused Barcelona problems as Muller headed the ball across goal for Gomez to volley home.

Replays showed Gomez to have been in an offside position and while the visiting side may have had every right to feel aggrieved, it was nothing to what was to transpire with 17 minutes remaining.

Robben, a constant menace all night, was the man at the heart of the action, racing towards goal as Barcelona began to back off.

The Dutch winger looked to have beaten Alba, but his case was quite clearly helped by Muller bundling the defender to the ground.

While the visiting team stopped in anticipation of the referee's whistle, Robben continued his run and lashed the ball into the far corner before turning away to celebrate.